Fake Pokemon Emerald Cartridge Repair

[dazmatic]

Recently picked up this 'copy' of Pokemon Emerald in the hopes it was a legit copy but in a reshelled case. The seller stated they picked up in the US about 15 years ago so it seemed old enough to be legit.

I was clearly, obviously wrong.

The game plays however there is no battery - I have batteries on order which is fine - but the weird issue is that the game doesn't save.

On loading the game says 'The game can be played' and goes straight to the New/Options screen. Power cycling causes the save file to be deleted which is curious as I understand it Emerald doesn't use the battery to save so this should still work.

I'm wondering if the jumpers on the cart have something to do with it perhaps?
Anyone able to identify what the jumpers on the PCB do?

I'm hoping that fitting a battery will bring the save functionality back (it's weird though)

 

[master801]

Looks like it used to have a battery, but someone literally ripped it out

 

[dazmatic]

I've got batteries on order so I'll fit one when they turn up.

Curiously, I can no longer save with the cartridge. Managed to save once when initially testing the game - now not at all.
The initial loading screen shows 'The game can be played' but starting a new game and trying to save I'm greeted with the same as this.

 

[4d1xlaan]

you don't want to use this cart. it's not using the full 128kb of save memory and will give you trouble once you beat the elite four. trouble as in, deleting your save

if the cartridge is rewriteable then you might be able to put the proper emerald 64kb saving patched rom on it instead, which would serve you better. if it can be figured out what kind of board this is and what needs to be done for rewritten roms to be able to save

it seems like the hardware failed though, so it might not really be useful for anything

 

[dazmatic]

Thanks for that.. What makes you think it's not using the full 128kb of save memory?

I've got a GBA flash writer turning up soon for writing carts so I'll take a look at the contents.

I think it might be a dry joint so I'm going to reflow all the pads.

you don't want to use this cart. it's not using the full 128kb of save memory and will give you trouble once you beat the elite four. trouble as in, deleting your save

if the cartridge is rewriteable then you might be able to put the proper emerald 64kb saving patched rom on it instead, which would serve you better. if it can be figured out what kind of board this is and what needs to be done for rewritten roms to be able to save

it seems like the hardware failed though, so it might not really be useful for anything

 

[master801]

imo this is happening because the battery is missing.

If you're curious and handy with a soldering iron, solder some wires to the battery pads then tape the wires to a AAA or AA battery then see if you can save.

Definitely do NOT solder directly to the batteries or they can and will explode.

 

[4d1xlaan]

Thanks for that.. What makes you think it's not using the full 128kb of save memory?

I've got a GBA flash writer turning up soon for writing carts so I'll take a look at the contents.

I think it might be a dry joint so I'm going to reflow all the pads.

"the game can be played" is actually "the save data is corrupted, the previous save file will be loaded", but they hacked it to change the text

bootlegs usually do this because boards that do the full 128kb of save data are more expensive, so they put the games on boards with less save memory. but if a buyer just saw a message about corrupted save data every time they played, they would know something is wrong, so they change the message to something that looks normal, so that uninformed buyers don't notice anything is wrong

I guess it's possible that if this uses some kind of sram, that it behaves like the sram doesnt work if there is no battery, but sram doesnt normally care if there is a battery or not. sram should be able to be written to without a battery, it just will lose the data once power is removed. but you never know with this type of bootleg hardware (and the board looks kinda disgusting tbh)

 

[Jayro]

Looks like a very easy repair job, but I wouldn't bother. You can get a perfect RTC GBA cart off AliExpress that's 32MB in size, and saves without using the clock battery just like the real cart for just $40 USD. That's a far better option than this.

 

[4d1xlaan]

"the game can be played" is actually "the save data is corrupted, the previous save file will be loaded", but they hacked it to change the text

bootlegs usually do this because boards that do the full 128kb of save data are more expensive, so they put the games on boards with less save memory. but if a buyer just saw a message about corrupted save data every time they played, they would know something is wrong, so they change the message to something that looks normal, so that uninformed buyers don't notice anything is wrong

I guess it's possible that if this uses some kind of sram, that it behaves like the sram doesnt work if there is no battery, but sram doesnt normally care if there is a battery or not. sram should be able to be written to without a battery, it just will lose the data once power is removed. but you never know with this type of bootleg hardware (and the board looks kinda disgusting tbh)

also I just had a thought, the "game can be played" message might not necessarily be replacing the save file is corrupted message. it could be replacing the dry battery message instead I guess

https://flashcartdb.com/index.php/Main_Page#GameBoy_Clone.2FRepro_Flash_Carts

yours looks like it's the second to last one, it's not clear if it uses 64kb or 128kb, but from "M6001-128" you might hope that it's got 128kb

if you do manage to rewrite it with a better rom, you could update the wiki with your results (or contact someone who can)

yours is missing some kind of capacitor(?) on the top right, and it has solder bridges in places that the other one doesn't. it's not clear if those are needed or not

 

[dazmatic]

Spotted that also, I think you could be right - it does say on there that it is SRAM backed which does require a battery. I'll probe the board and see where else the battery feeds and check

I did wet a few of the joints of the piggyback PCB as they looked dry and it coincidentally stopped saving altogether afterwards.

I'll wick and reflow all the joints with fresh solder and flux and go from there - need a new toothbrush to clean with . New battery arrives today so it would be good to get it working.

Spotted the missing capacitor also, no indication of value? Got some 0403 and 0604 somewhere so might just stick a 0.1nF on it for shits.

I've got a GBA RTC cart on order also because why not - if I get this working then perhaps I'll use for Ruby or Sapphire?

I want to evolve my Kadabra anyway (and Haunter when I get one) from my repro FireRed so was going to get a cart reader anyway for 'trades'.

Post automatically merged: Feb 28, 2025

Battery installed, cart is working again nicely and saving. I'll eventually play through and backup my saves as I go I think just precautionary.

 

[4d1xlaan]

if you can backup the save file, it would be interesting to know if it does actually do 128 kb save files

 

[dazmatic]

if you can backup the save file, it would be interesting to know if it does actually do 128 kb save files

So yes - it is 128KB save files

Scratch that, they are 64kb saves. Cart was a bit grimy from the flux. Scanned again and dumped and it was 64kb. Loaded save in OG emerald ROM, moved around a touch, saved in game and then pushed the save to the cart, worked fine.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

So yes - it is 128KB save files

Sure it's not just the same data duplicated twice?

 

[dazmatic]

So if these are in fact, 64kb saves, does that mean then that I can't beat the elite 4 on this cart?